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MPmomma ~ My son is with HQBN MP Co at CLJ. Never was anyone on here from that Co.

My Marine is currently deployed to the stan. He's with 12 other dog handlers (IED dogs) and their SSGT, culled from MP Co and attached to 1/6 in Jan for the surge....Operation Moshtarak. They are due to come home real soon. and will return to their HQBN brothers. Can't wait to see our "Dirty Dozen" !!

I see you're from MA- we attended a wedding in Leominster last fall. Nice area. I'm from PA.

There are actually a few of us, though we don't tend to post often in this section aside from helping out new families :D
My DH is with MP Co, just transferred from 2nd MLG in April :) There's also another wife, Jenn, on here, but she's normally busy moderating the PI Board.

I'm Stephanie, one of the moderators here, so if you have any questions, about this unit or general MC issues, ask away! Though you'll have to forgive me if I can be slow in responding at times, we're busy preparing for our first devil pup! Patrick is fairly new to this unit, but will be hitting his 5 year mark in Sept, and we finished deployment #3 this past fall with CLB-8's Security Co. Welcome to the board & the fleet!

Hooray! It's so lonely when no one else is in your company. Our son is telling us he may be deployed in March but it could be before Christmas. How long in advance did your son know for sure? We are definitely wanting to go see him before that time comes and we want to be there when he ships out so it's hard to know when to plan our vacation time.

How was the communication for you? We know to be flexible but we're just curious about the process. Like to learn all we can.

MPmomma, the rumors that we've heard have all varied, I try not to listen to them because most of them are wrong... that being said, unless your son is sent out Individual Augment (IA) to another deploying unit, all the rumors that I've heard have been around the beginning of next year. We've been through 3 deployments (with 2nd MLG, but Jenn's husband has done all 3 of his with HQBN-MPCo) and the wind-up time always varies, this last one we only had 6 weeks notice (as in, you're going to CAX in less than a week, then was boots on the ground in country within 2 weeks after CAX was over) his first deployment we had about 5 months notice as to what end of what month he'd be leaving... quite a difference in prep-time! As far as planning when to be down here for deployment day, its bound to be a last minute trip since things change so much last minute, same thing with homecoming time too. The best that I can tell you is to wait until he's back from CAX to book flights/rooms & then purchase travel insurance to cover your hiney if/when something changes. Unfortunately, Pat's mom was never able to move her work schedule around enough for the last minute trips, but she always said her goodbyes at the end of his pre-d leave and then over the phone on the actual D-day. Communication varies greatly between deployments too, it all depends on where they end up going and how often they want to sit in line for hours to call home. Some deployments, DH was able to call home/skype multiple times a week, other deployments I'd be lucky to hear from him once a month because they were outside the wire so often. It's always a wait & see type thing

DevilDoggi, Matt was there last night to welcome home the handlers. Don't know if you were there, but he said the homecoming went well.

MPMomma, as Stephanie said travel and communication vary greatly. At this time, there are several different units that our MPs are being attached to. All of these deployments are scheduled to happen anywhere from December to March depending on the unit they are attaching to. Most will be going to CAX beforehand but some are not. All of the Marines will get pre-deployment leave, so you definitely be able to plan some time with your Marine then. Deployment days are always varied and are never announced "in advance". (In most situations, the true date and time isn't verified until about a week beforehand.) This is due to OPSEC and the safety of our Marines as they travel. As far as communication while overseas, Steph was right again. That definitely depends on the Marine's location. For this last deployment, our communication varied from a phone every 2-3 weeks to not hearing from him for more than 12 weeks. For this deployment he was a part of a major push into the most Northern (at that time) position in Afghanistan. Other MPs from the same Co. were not a part of his crew and were left on Camp Leatherneck as acting PMO for the base. For these Marines, they were able to contact home by phone or email pretty regularly. Semper Gumby! As with everything else in the USMC, the answer vary by unit, platoon, squad and person. Feel free to ask anything else. I'll do my best to check-in here more often.

And Steph, he was actually with CLB-2 for his first deployment. The second he was attached to 3/10 with HQBN. And of course for this third one he was attached to 2/3 Golf Co. with HQBN.

Oops! My mistake Jenn! I knew that in the back of my head, don't know why I wrote it that way, I meant that he was deployed out of this unit each time, not that the whole unit deployed. It was the same way with 2nd MLG during Pat's first contract, he never actually deployed with the original units he was attached to, CLC-21 was TAD to 2nd Supply Bn then CLB-6 and then attached to CLR-27 TAD to CLB-8... sorry if I confused anyone!

Jenn ~ Please thank Matt for his show of support in being there for our Marines' homecoming ..... that was such a wonderful thing that the MP's did! We thought that our FRO (Sue) and those she worked with did a great job of the homecoming event. I can't even think about the next deployment right now. I know it'll come soon enough, but we're just ejoying this time now!

Our Marine had a great time on his block leave, just went back to CLJ this past Friday....already missing him, not to mention his girlfriend and how much she misses him too. At least we know we'll be able to visit him, or him drive home on a 96, etc. Beats being deployed with those 'once every couple of month phone calls.' ha! God bless the battalions that have deployed to take their place.... it's just one big revolving door. But that's what the military is about.

Eric really enjoyed seeing family, friends, eating all sorts of good food that doesn't get heated in a bag!! We got down to the shore for a weekend, camping and fishing. He got a kick out of that, considering he'd been sleeping in the dirt in one compound or another for months! Ahhh, but sunset over the water at Cape May.....nothing like the stan at all! Important to note that he returned much the same Eric as he left. His sense of their purpose for being there was not out of whack, his humor, temperament, bearing, etc, all seemed right on. No jerking, jumping at loud noises, no short fuse. He would relate stories, and images of the people, the land, the battles, to us without any undue angst. So, all in all, I guess that's more than we could have hoped for. Thank the Lord above. When he gives me those big bear hugs, I know it's my son, returned to us, whole, body and mind.

Now I believe they'll pick right back up and begin training for the next go-round. Cause they're Marines.....it's what they do.....